Huawei Ascend Mate 2 Review: Incredible Battery Life & Value
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on June 12, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Huawei
- Mobile
- Ascend Mate 2
Camera Architecture
These days, it’s harder to distinguish between cameras. While previously it was easy to point to a higher megapixel count and declare a winner that way, most OEMs have converged on largely similar sensor formats and pixel sizes. So it’s worth taking a closer look at the camera setup of the Ascend Mate2. On the rear camera, Huawei uses a Sony IMX135, and the front camera is a Samsung S5K4E1, something that I haven’t really seen in another phone. Surprisingly, based upon some quick calculations, this may actually be a 1/ 4” sensor. A casual Google search for this model number leads right back to the rear facing camera in our Galaxy Nexus review. If anything, this may be the biggest sign of how the industry has advanced over the years. At any rate, I’ve put up the relevant information that I know on the table below.
| Camera Architecture | ||||
| Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G | ||||
| Front Camera | 5.0MP | |||
| Front Camera - Sensor |
S5K4E1 (1.4µm, 1/4") |
|||
| Front Camera - Focal Length | 2.41mm | |||
| Front Camera - Max Aperture | F/2.8 | |||
| Rear Camera - Sensor |
IMX135 (1.12 µm, 1/3.06") |
|||
| Rear Camera - Focal Length | 3.85mm (28mm eff) | |||
| Rear Camera - Max Aperture | F/2.0 | |||
As can be seen by the table above, the rear camera of the Ascend Mate 2 is quite similar to many other camera systems. The focal length means the field of view is broadly equivalent to the One (M8), and the sensor itself was one shared by the Exynos Galaxy S4, Oppo Find 5, LG G2, and LG G3. In short, the camera should be solidly in the middle of the pack. It’s not going to blow anyone away with superior low light capabilities like the iPhone 5s, HTC One (M7), or the Nokia PureView phones. It’s also not going to blow anyone away in daytime detail like the Xperia Z1/Z2 or the Lumia 1520/1020/930. Of course, to figure out just how well all of the pieces come together, controlled testing is still needed.
On the front facing camera, I suspect that Huawei made a mistake in their EXIF data, as the focal length of the sensor most nearly corresponds to a 26mm equivalent focal length, which implies that the sensor is a 1/ 3” size, rather than 1/ 4” size that it’s most likely to be. While the 1/ 4” sensor seems large, the 1.4 micron pixel size is effectively equivalent to the 1.1 micron pixel size on the One (M8)’s front facing camera, as the S4KE1 sensor is front-side illuminated, rather than back-side illuminated.
On the UI side, Huawei has done a reasonably good job. All the necessary controls are present, although it’s a bit disappointing that Huawei doesn’t include an option for guidelines in the preview. Preview frame rate is acceptable, as is the resolution. However, I suspect that the 8x26 ISP is once again a gating factor here as the preview doesn’t appear to be as high of a resolution and frame rate as on Snapdragon 801 devices. The UI is very much reminiscent of the Galaxy S2’s camera UI before the Android 4.0 update. Qualitatively, the camera has little shutter lag, but like the One mini 2 there’s a noticeable shot to shot latency, and burst shot isn’t nearly as fast as it is on Snapdragon 801 devices. As a result of the weaker ISP, 1080p30 is the maximum quality/frame rate that can be selected.
Outside of standard UI, the two main features of note are the object tracking and “groufies”, or panorama mode on the front facing camera. Object tracking is only available on the rear facing camera, but it’s quite amusing to use and generally quite cool. In short, by enabling this mode the camera will automatically attempt to stay focused upon the selected object. At first glance, this mode seems to use accelerometer/gyroscope information on the phone. However, the fact that you can move the object around in the field of view with the camera locked to the correct target suggests that this is simply interpreting the image to determine the focus point. I don’t know the specifics of this mechanism, but it’s surprising how well it works.
Overall, while Huawei isn’t breaking new ground with this camera system, it has the pieces to make a camera that’s competitive with 2013/2014 high end phones. Of course, image quality requires integration as well. This means comparison shots are necessary, as even the same camera system can be tuned differently depending upon the OEM that uses it.
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tim851 - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
"The first place to start is industrial and material design. While many people like to suggest that any weight given to ID or MD is effectively evaluating fashion for the sake of evaluating fashion, design is critical to a phone's utility. A phone or a tablet is something that people will be constantly feeling and looking at, thus a phone that's unergonomic or finished poorly will dramatically affect the rest of the experience."I agree. The problem is that most reviews don't really criticize material or industrial design, but aesthetic design and whether or not a device is made from plastics or metal. As if metal has any advantage over metal besides it's perceived quality.
The abundant disses of Samsung's devices on the use of glossy plastics (or lately the faux materials) are totally unnecessary. Any customer can judge a phone's looks by themselves, they don't need a reviewer to help them out.
Euphonious - Saturday, June 14, 2014 - link
This review honestly tells me practically nothing about how pleasant or enjoyable the device actually is to use. You've discussed the luminance and white balance of the display in exhaustive detail whilst glossing over the software and the actual experience of using the device in three fairly short paragraphs.How much difference does it make to the real-world desirability of a phone if its saturation accuracy is 3.6063 rather than 3.8685? Nobody is going to notice that, but they will notice a shoddy UI or an unergonomic design. Reducing everything to numbers really misses the pleasure and pain points which make a good or a bad phone.
nrfitchett4 - Friday, March 20, 2015 - link
I bought this about 3 months ago and don't regret it at all. Sold my LG G2 to amazon for 145 and got this for 290. It is a little unwieldy at times due to size, but its easy to use, runs really well and I haven't had any software problems. I don't use many apps these days, and only play a couple of games so 16gb of storage with a 32gb micro sd card works fine for me. I unlocked mine using code from Huawei (all you have to do is ask) and rooted it. Its running JB, but I'm scared of what lollipop would do to an already great software experience. I wasn't a fan of the UI at first, but decided against 3rd party launchers when I saw how much battery they were eating.torimish - Sunday, June 15, 2014 - link
I really think Huawei deserves some more brand recognition. I'm in Australia, and I recently purchased the Huawei Mediapad Honor X1 - basically a 7" phablet, a great convergence device. I've done away with my ultrabook, and use this while travelling with a BT keyboard, and while it's pretty big for pocket use, it's easy to stash in my hand-bag.The quality of these phones - and the price point they are currently sitting at - make for excellent value. I took a gamble (was advised build quality wasn't up to some of the other devices), but I have been very pleasantly surprised. This Ascend looks good, too.
I'd seriously recommend anyone try these Huawei devices. Build quality and finish is up there with the likes of Samsung and Sony and Apple. I'd really like to see Anand do a review of the Mediapad X1. You can't argue with fully unlocked, broad gamut of 4G/LTE bands, 1920x1200 resolution etc for less than $400 USD . . . and all day or two battery life.
MarkWebb - Tuesday, June 17, 2014 - link
Ordered!mikkej2k - Thursday, July 10, 2014 - link
OK phone.Gethuawei.com website is broken. Call in customer service is also awful - be careful.
zlinghaha - Wednesday, August 6, 2014 - link
Avoid this crap. I just got the phone but found it cannot connect to a mobile network when I turn off Wi-Fi after it stays on Wi-Fi for some time. It cannot connect to a mobile network even after I re-start the device. This is over-hyped crap.FarWestNow - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link
A good phone with a great camera (13mp). It's big, but I got used to it pretty quickly. I drop phones constantly, so I bought a Trident case, which so far seems to be fine. (looked for an Otter Box but they don't make one for the AM2.) Only real downside is that it gobbles up data like a fiend and my model came stuffed w/Google apps, and I've had to shut off the mobile network data manually when I'm off Wi-Fi to make sure I stay under my data cap. Four out of five stars....nrfitchett4 - Friday, March 20, 2015 - link
turn off auto-sync. I haven't noticed any extra data used. You can turn off mobile data as well, leaving only wifi, phone and sms on.